100 years old and still passionate about journalism

Because of his passion for propaganda work, after the August Revolution in 1945, a young man from the martial arts land of Binh Dinh named Nguyen Xuyen (born in 1925, residing on Phan Boi Chau Street, Phuoc Vinh Ward, Thuan Hoa District, Hue City) volunteered to become a member of the Central Viet Minh Volunteer Propaganda Team (TTXP), serving revolutionary activities.

Having held many positions, although retired, for the past several decades, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen has still diligently written for newspapers and has had many award-winning articles on Party building.

Enthusiastic propaganda team

One day in mid-June 2025, in the atmosphere of the 100th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925 - June 21, 2025), CAND Newspaper reporters visited the small house of Mr. Nguyen Xuyen in Hue City. This year, despite being at a rare age - turning 100 years old, Mr. Xuyen is still lucid and tells many stories about his life and his journalism career.

Mr. Nguyen Xuyen with the Certificates of Merit and Certificates of Journalism Awards that were awarded.

According to Mr. Xuyen, since the age of 13, he left his family to study at a prestigious school in Hue. On August 31, 1945, the Conference of Delegates of the Central provinces in Hue decided to establish the Indochinese Communist Party in the Central region and elected comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh as Secretary of the Central Region Party Committee. Immediately after that, the Secretary of the Central Region Party Committee decided to organize the Central Region Viet Minh TTXP Team and assigned comrade Dao Duy Denh as Team Leader to train the team members. Immediately after that, Team Leader Dao Duy Denh recruited educated young people to become members of the Central Region Viet Minh TTXP Team. In October 1945, the first crash course for TTXP Team members took place with many participants, including the enthusiastic young man Nguyen Xuyen who was just 20 years old at that time.

The propaganda themes of the Central Viet Minh TTXP Team were to clearly introduce the Viet Minh Front, expose the crimes of the enemy, and call on the masses to fight against hunger, illiteracy, and foreign invaders. In addition, they also called on the people to support and promote the first General Election of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on January 6, 1946.

“Although we were young, with enthusiasm and revolutionary spirit, I and the members of the Propaganda Team participated in giving speeches and performing short plays in crowded places such as on trains and on the streets. The members overcame all difficulties and hardships to go to the battlefield to serve the revolution. Although operating for a short period of time, from October 1945 to April 1946, the Central Viet Minh Propaganda Team made many important contributions to the Party's ideological and cultural front, contributing to beautifying the glorious history of the nation,” Mr. Nguyen Xuyen recalled.

Passing on the passion for the profession to the younger generation

After the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen held the position of Deputy Director of the Automobile Transport Company No. 3 of Binh Tri Thien Province and retired in 1986. Although he had not been trained in any journalism school, because he had time to study, research, read documents, and books on journalism, Mr. Xuyen wrote the first news reports and they were broadcast on Binh Tri Thien Radio. After retiring, in addition to writing articles for local Party newspapers and Nhan Dan Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen spent more time writing articles for newspapers and magazines. Among them, An Ninh The Gioi and Cong An Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh Newspaper (now a special topic and page of CAND Newspaper) published many articles written by Mr. Nguyen Xuyen under many different pen names.

Mr. Nguyen Xuyen inspires enthusiasm in young reporters.

When we arrived at his house, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen was diligently working on his laptop to complete an article titled “Nguyen Ai Quoc founded Thanh Nien Newspaper and the Vietnamese revolutionary press” to send to the Hue Journalist Magazine (Hue City Journalists Association) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day. Just stopping typing, Mr. Xuyen shared: “If this article is published in the next issue, I will have more than 80 articles printed in the Hue Journalist Magazine. To serve my journalism career, many years ago, I invested in buying a laptop to replace my previous typewriter. However, now that I am old and my eyesight is poor, my writing is not as fast as before.”

In addition to the research trips to record and collect documents, the family's bookshelf is a valuable source of information for Mr. Nguyen Xuyen to write articles. Pointing to the wooden cabinet containing many books and newspapers placed against the wall of the house, Mr. Xuyen said that this is the bookshelf that he built when he was young. In addition to books, he also ordered all five Nhan Dan Newspapers, CAND Newspapers, Communist Magazines... to read and research for documents.

Not only writing regularly and collaborating with newspapers and magazines at the Central level, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen also became a "regular" collaborator of many Party newspapers in localities, including Khanh Hoa Newspaper, Can Tho Newspaper, Soc Trang Newspaper... "Since I started writing in 1983, I have had about 3,000 articles published in newspapers and magazines from the Central to the local level, including hundreds of articles about Uncle Ho and Party building work. Every year, when the Lunar New Year approaches, I spend time writing Spring newspapers. The most was during the Mau Tuat New Year (2018), when I had 38 articles published, and during the Ky Hoi New Year (2019), when I had 31 articles. During the At Ty New Year (2025), I had 9 articles published in Spring newspapers. Because the royalties from the newspapers were quite high, I went to the local Tax Department to register for a tax code, fulfilling my duty. "The case of paying personal income tax on the annual royalties received," Mr. Xuyen added.

Up to now, although he is 100 years old, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen is still diligently and tirelessly working as a "word carrier". Many articles written about his homeland, country, Uncle Ho and major topics and events with different pen names such as Nguyen Xuyen, Nguyen Phuoc Vinh, Van Chinh, Chinh Luan... have been published in newspapers and magazines, demonstrating the diligence and hard work of the author. On every holiday and Tet, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen's small house opens its doors to welcome many young journalists and reporters. Through each story, Mr. Xuyen continues to pass on his experience in journalism, writing and "passing on the passion" of the profession to help young reporters have more excellent journalistic works to serve readers.

With his abundant writing ability, Mr. Nguyen Xuyen has had many works that have won journalism awards. In particular, in 2010, author Nguyen Xuyen was awarded a certificate of merit by the Thua Thien Hue Provincial Party Committee (now Hue City) for his excellent work in the campaign to create, promote and perform on the theme "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh". In 3 consecutive years 2021, 2022 and 2023, the works: "Towards a combative and humane journalism"; "Digital transformation, a new driving force for development"; "Building a professional, humane and modern journalism according to the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress" by author Nguyen Xuyen were awarded a certificate of outstanding work by the Organizing Committee of the Party Building Journalism Award (Golden Hammer and Sickle Award) of Khanh Hoa province.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Phong-su-tu-lieu/tron-100-tuoi-van-dam-me-voi-nghe-bao-i772055/